Rejection
by Mariel Nightstalker
Summary: Bella rejects Edward.


Note: This is just a Twilight dribble.

Rejection

"I'm sorry, Edward, but…no."

I pressed his fingers closed, covering up the velvety box. I didn't want to look at it. He seemed surprised, or as surprised as he ever looked. I looked away and hugged myself. It wasn't raining now, but the wind was cold and I didn't have time to bring a jacket when I stepped outside to meet him. He reached for the zipper to his coat but I held up my hand.

"Don't bother; I'm going back inside in a moment."

"No, you're not. I refuse to let you go until you give me a reason, any reason. I want to understand why you're rejecting me," a hint of a growl rumbled in his voice, and I shivered, reminded why things could never work between us.

I shook my head, digging my fingers into my arms, "You're proving part of the reason right now. You just have this _stubborn _streak that drives me crazy. Why can't I ever say something and have you accept it as my honest opinion?"

Edward tried to reply, but stopped when he realized I was right.

"See? Even in the comparatively little things we aren't compatible. Edward, I could never marry you. I'm not old enough, I'm not in love with you, and we're not even the same species! We have nothing in common."

He crossed his arms, "That's not true. We like the same music, we both like to go on walks, and we both like the sound of the sea."

I raised my eyebrows, "But what do we talk about? Nothing; I can't relate to your childhood because you were born more than a hundred years before me. Intellectually, we are unmatched. How can I talk to you when I know how much smarter you are? It would take me hundreds of years to make up our differences. Even on the physical side, we aren't right for each other. I want to be kissed and I…I want to have sex with my boyfriend sometime, when I feel ready. But I can't even kiss you for more than a few seconds before you become tempted to murder me. You don't understand how fragile I am, even though you try. Edward, why are we even talking about this?" frustrated, I turned and tried to go inside. His hand on my shoulder stopped me and I sighed. I could feel the chill of him even through my shirt.

"Bella, I'm in love with you. I want to spend the rest of eternity with you…why don't you want that with me? Don't you have any feelings for me?"

I brushed his hand off my shoulder and sat on the edge of the bench dad bought for the porch. For a few moments I couldn't meet his eyes. I didn't want to say this to him, to confess all of my doubts and fears when all they could do was hurt him.

"I'm seventeen."

He nodded, "I know that. We go to class together."

"Yes, and I don't know if you've noticed this, but most seventeen year olds aren't thinking about getting married. They're thinking about the SAT and getting into a good college, or just getting a job that works for them. Even if I was in love with you, I have no previous feelings to compare it to. You're my first boyfriend. Yes, you're very attractive and you're a nice person, but I can't decide that I want to marry you and become a Vampire on that basis."

"If you need time, I have all the time in the world. I would never want to rush you, especially not about something like this. Besides, you can still go to college if you marry me. Hell, you'll have to," he chuckled nervously, a hand moving up towards my hair. I shifted out of his reach and he dropped his hand, a flash of hurt in his eyes.

"Is there somebody else?"

I shrugged, "Not yet, but there will be. I'm a teenager; we let our hormones guide us. I need to explore and experiment, to find out what kind of men I like and what I want out of a relationship. Edward, I don't even know what my needs are yet. How can I enter a marriage and be expected to meet yours as well?"

"No one is asking you to meet any needs!"

I looked up sharply, "Yes, you are. You're doing it right now. And you're not meeting mine. I feel like this relationship, if we can even call it that, has just snowballed out of our control. I'm not ready emotionally to have a relationship with a normal boy, much less a Vampire."

Helplessly, he sat down beside me and stared out at my soggy drive-way. I felt terrible, but this had to be done. We'd been sort-of together for three months, and now he was proposing. This was too much too fast, and I had to stop it now before it was too late and I made the biggest mistake of my life.

"What about eternal love? I thought you liked that."

I snorted, "Eternal love? No. I actually thought about it yesterday in the shower, and I realized that I've been totally misunderstanding it. I've read too many Victorian novels, and they've given me this skewed version of it. They tell you that it's a romantic thing, and that it's the most desirable type of relationship. But I don't think I agree."

Edward scratched some of the paint off of the railing listlessly, "Why not? _I _think it's romantic."

"Yeah, well, you also sparkle in the sun and could become a hair stylist with no prior training. You're a little gay."

I could feel him staring at me, probably offended beyond belief. I tried not to laugh, but I snorted anyway. He joined in, snuffling a little as he tried to muffle it in his shirt. We didn't want to wake up Charlie, who might get the wrong idea about me meeting my boyfriend in the middle of the night in my pajamas.

"Anyway, I don't believe that eternal love is romantic because you would get _so fucking tired of each other. _Seriously, I've seen too many old ladies in the grocery store who talk about what they're going to do when their husbands finally kick the bucket. I don't want to spend more than 80 years with just one person, no matter how much I loved them when I marry them."

He was looking at me again, "That's incredibly cold."

"Well, it's the truth. That's how I feel."

His cellphone buzzed and he checked it absently, choking when he saw a text message. I peeked over his shoulder and saw that it was from Alice. It said _it doesn't work out; Get out now while you still have your dignity._

I laughed, and he grumbled under his breath as he stood. He was halfway down the steps when he turned.

"Can we at least be friends?"

"Maybe… I'll think about it."

"Alright. Goodnight and goodbye, Bella!"

"'night."

I watched him go. I wasn't sorry at all. All I felt was an relief, sweet relief. I turned around and went back inside. Charlie was in the kitchen, a tub of ice cream in his hands. I turned red, and wondered if he knew I was meeting Edward.

"You made the right decision."

My throat closed up. I was so happy that he wasn't upset, and that he supported me.

"Thanks, dad."

I went to bed.

000

End Rejection

I got bored and decided to write a 'Bella rejects Edward' scene. Review!


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